Political Cartoons: Introduction to Symbols

What is happening to our newspapers? In the context of the current trends of media and the ever-declining print news industry, this handout includes two political cartoons for pupils to analyze, both created by artists working for...

What advantages do political cartoons have over written editorials? Scholars discuss the topic by exploring editorial cartoons. Working in small groups, pupils analyze an Uncle Sam cartoon and complete a worksheet. As a fun extension,...

Economic development and politics are intricately connected. As part of a larger series about the world's greatest ideas, an engaging video takes this into consideration when exploring James Ferguson's The Anti-Politics Machine. The...

In the world of politics, access to resources often determines who holds the power. A video summary of Who Governs? by Robert Dahl shares Dahl's theories about political power and influence based on his study of a local community. The...

Do traditional customs of Islam contradict western feminism? Explore this and more using a video summary of Saba Mahmood's Politics of Piety, part of an extensive playlist about the world's greatest ideas. It addresses a common...

Long live the king! A video summary of The King's Two Bodies by Ernst Kantorowicz discusses political theology during the medieval period and how body politics could survive the body natural. The video uses illustrations and clear...

Students explore political cartoons.  In this government current events lesson, students analyze the visual language and symbolism present in five different political cartoons.  Students discuss the event or issue that inspired the...

Young scholars select a cartoon to present to the class. They study it for a few minutes, write a list of questions about the cartoon. Students answer each others' questions and change the questions to declarative statements which are...

A picture is worth a thousand words, but political art may be worth even more! After examining examples of political cartoons, murals, and other forms of public art, class members create their own pieces to reflect their ideals and...

Students study a current political cartoon to introduce the ideas of symbolism, humor, exaggeration, and caricature in editorial cartoons. They study cartoons from the past to gain an understanding of the culture of 1912.